880 



THE AMERICAN BEE JOLH^AL. 



Dec. 29, 1904. 



frames are of the American system of Dadant. How popular 

 this system is can be seen from the fact that the name "Da- 

 dant" is now synonymous with the frame hive. If you want 

 to find out in Russia whether it is a hive that can be taken 

 apart or not, you say: "Do you keep your bees in Dadant's 

 or in ordinary hives?" Many other apicultural suppHes have 

 been found as usual and convenient in Russia as they are 

 in America, and you will find now in a good many Russian 

 apiaries things in common with the well ordered apiaries 

 of America. 



Having given you a brief history of apiculture in Rus- 

 sia, I will finally give some figures illustrating its present 

 state. About 328,417 persons are engaged in apiculture in 

 European Russia — which in proportion to the entire popula- 

 tion is 0.34 per cent. Statistics gathered in one province to 

 show the division of sexes in the bee-keeping industry demon- 

 strated that 35 per cent of the persons looking after bees 

 are female. 



The following is a table showing the number of hives conr 

 taining bees in Russia : 



European Russia 3,628,177 71.5 p. c. 



Poland 116,414 2 p. c. 



Caucasus 832,683 16.5 p. c. 



Siberia 494,506 9.5 p. c. 



Central Asia 34,942 0.5 p. c. 



Total , 5,106,722 100 p. c. 



Assuming the value of a bee colony to be $1.50, the value 

 of an old style hive at 50c, and of a frame hive at $4, this 

 gives the capital invested in the apiaries as $12,484,500. Aver- 

 age gross revenue from each hive in honey may be fixed at 

 SSyi cents and in wax at 51J^ cents, altogether $1.55, which 

 is 55 per cent on the capita! invested. 



As far as the number of hives is concerned, apiaries are 

 insignificant. On an average there are 10 hives to an apiary 

 in Russia. The owners are also the attendants. Hired 

 apiarists are merely 1 per cent of the whole number. 



In the majority of apiaries old style hives are still used. 

 According to statistics gathered in 1894 there were only 13 

 per cent of frame hives in use. It may be safely assumed that 

 this percentage has doubled since then. 



The spread of frame hives in Russia is noi at all the same 

 in the various provinces of Russia. In 11 provinces there are 

 20 to 70 frame hives to each hundred. Frame hives in most 

 common use in Russia are the Anglo-American, Dadant- 

 Blatt, Root, Levitchky, and Dzierzon. The most popular hives 

 are those of Dadant. 



There is noted a general quantitative improvement in 

 various territories which are especially adapted to apiculture. 

 Thus for instance in the Kuban territory : 



1893 number of hives 170,545. 



1895 number of hives 299,218. 



1898 number of hives 528,218. 



In other words, the number of the hives increased more 

 than threefold in five years. Good results are also attained 

 in Siberia, particularly in the region of the Altai mountains. 

 More risky is the pursuit of apiculture in localities which 

 have a more severe climate, where the loss in the course 

 of a year may amount to a half of the whole bee colony. 

 Thus, for instance, in the Ufa province there were 522,150 

 colonies at the beginning of winter, and only 258,730 re- 

 mained for swarming, about 263,714 perishing. This is about 

 50 per cent. Starvation, 54.9 per cent: foul brood, 1.4 per 

 cent. The causes of destruction were classified as followed: 

 Spoiled honey, 35.1 per cent ; cold, 7.7 per cent ; mice, 0.9 per 

 cent. 



Bee-keepers in Russia suffer a great deal from the habit 

 of the bees of gathering honey from coniferous trees, what is 

 called "honey dew." 



In several portions of Russia foul brood is a source of 

 considerable damage, and Russian apiaries are seeking means 

 to combat this dread disease. Salicylic acid seems to give the 

 best results among all the means adopted. Also formic acid, 

 formalin and the transferring of bees to new hives. 



Most of Russia abounds with honey-furnishing vege- 

 tation, which yields a good harvest for bees, both of honey 

 and pollen. We may name the Linden tree, willows of every 

 kind, acacias, apple trees, plum trees, pear trees, etc., rasp- 

 berries, all sorts of clover, buckwheat, lucerne, mustard, etc. 

 In many localities there is possibly a harvest of 150 pounds 

 per colony in the season. The maximum harvest of honey per 

 day is said to be nyi pounds. 



One of the weak points of apiculture in Russia is the 



lack of orderliness in the sale of its products in the interior 

 of the land. Prices for honey and wax are subject to fluctua- 

 tions. In some localities good extracted honey is sold on an 

 average for 10 cents, while honey in the comb is sold at 15 

 cents per pound. In other places it is difficult to obtain even 

 half of the above mentioned prices. Bee-keepers in out of the 

 way places are altogether at the mercy of dealers who earn 

 great profits from the labor of other parties. Lately there is 

 more and more comb honey put in tin boxes of various sizes 

 and taken into commerce under the name of "Exquisite," 

 and sold at very high prices — 25 cents, 30 cents and over. 

 The sale of honey in this form is' considered more profitable 

 than in sections. 



There are about 98,379 tons of honey produced through- 

 out the Empire, the value being $4,250,000. The consumption 

 of honey inland is distributed as follows : As a table delicacy 

 23,604 tons, or 89.3 per cent of the whole production. About 

 596 tons are used in manufacturing — 2 per cent ; 725 tons or 

 2.7 per cent are used in the production of honey cake. In the 

 production of honey beverages, such as fruit waters, lemon- 

 ades, preserved fruit, condiments, syrups, about 1,851 tons or 

 5.5 per cent is used. There are finally consumed 18 tons or 

 0.3 per cent for medical purposes in pharmacies. 



With regard to the export trade in honey products, it ap- 

 pears that during the five years 1890-1895 there were ex- 

 ported from Russia 826 tons of honey and from 1895-1899 

 only 344 tons. This export business is rapidly decreasing. 

 In 1901 only 29 tons of the value of $5,776 were exported. 

 The imports of honey into Russia during 1895-1899 amounted 

 to 1,291 tons, to the value of $184,500, or on an average per 

 year $36,900. In 1901, 91 tons to the value of $10,306 were 

 imported from abroad. 



The annual production of wax in Russia amounts to 8,676 

 tons. The production of beeswax is a little more than one- 

 fifth of that of honey. Twenty-two tons of wax were ex- 

 ported from Russia in 1895-1899, but in 1901 only 3 tons to the 

 value of $2,185. The imports were as follows: 1897-1900, 

 9,001 tons to the value of $4,685,500, or in other words the 

 average annual imports for that period amounted to more 

 than 2,258 tons to the value of $1,221,000. In 1901, 2,872 

 tons of wax were imported, the value being $1,574,536. In 

 1902, 3,561 tons to the value of $1,997,500. 



It is thus seen that Russia pays to foreigners for the 

 products of apiculture more than $2,000,000 annually. The 

 task of Russian apiarists is how to retain this sum paid to 

 foreigners, in their own hands, for which reason they have to 

 increase the production of wax 2,258 tons, or about 1.1 pound 

 per hive. Or they must increase the number of hives by 

 3,466,960, in other words bring up the entire number of 

 hives to 7,573,000. The intense interest shown by Russian 

 apiaries in the problem of improving apiculture, their energy 

 and activity directed to the elevation and the propagation of 

 this industry, give me the right to state that the sum of 

 money above mentioned which is now paid to foreigners will 

 remain in the country and will be employed in the improve- 

 ment of the industry. The natural resources of the land also 

 champion this view. All that we need is knowledge, and 

 with the spread and increase of popular education, knowledge 

 has begun to enter the most distant nooks of the land. Per- 

 sonally I have the most absolute faith in the future of apicul- 

 ture in our fatherland. 



In conclusion, in behalf of bee-keepers of Russia, and 

 as their first representative to a convention of American bee- 

 keepers, I extend to you the cordial greetings of the Russian 

 apiarists. We feel deeply indebted also to you for the matiy 

 ideas borrowed from America to advance bee-keeping in 

 Russia. Abram TiToff. 



FOURTH SESSION. 



At 7 o'clock p. m. the President called the convention to 

 order. 



Dr. Bohrer — I have been very much interested in Mr. 

 Titoff's paper and I regard it as one of the most exhaustive 

 reports I have ever heard from this or any other country, 

 and it will be no discredit to have it published side by side 

 with our best statistical reports, and if it were possible for 

 this Association to make an application and succeed in hav- 

 ing it published by the Department of Agriculture as well 

 as having it appear in our National report I should very 

 much desire to see it done. I desire now to have this As- 

 sociation tender to the representative from Russia a vote of 

 thanks for the excellent report which has has given us. 



Mr. Abbott— I consider this one of the most exhaustive 

 papers I ever read in my life. I only regret that the paper 

 was not put into my hands so that I could have become a 



